


Akanbou no Isha

by AppleL0V3R



Series: Trust Me, I'm A Doctor [2]
Category: Naruto, One Piece
Genre: Canon Divergent (Naruto), F/M, Gen, HEA, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of Character Death, Pre-Relationship, Sabaody Archipelago, Spoilers (One Piece), Two Shot, pre-canon (One Piece), time skip, young Law
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2018-09-28
Packaged: 2018-09-28 10:11:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10090922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleL0V3R/pseuds/AppleL0V3R
Summary: Sakura remembered when Law was a small sickly child with nothing and no one. But the man in front of her was definitely not that kid anymore.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: if you've heard of it before, then it's obviously not mine.  
> Beta-reader: N/A (on hiatus)  
> Takes place directly after the events of Minion Island where Law crawls out of the treasure chest and walks away from the Donquixote Pirates crying. Sakura, on a mission but detouring because of what she’s heard about the Ope Ope no Mi, runs across Law. Law is canonically about twelve and a half, Sakura is almost eighteen and post 4th war, also canon compliant. And yes, this is one of the few verses I’ve written thus far that does not include the killing off of Team 7/Team Kakashi. I do have a reason for doing that as often as I do, and it is not for drama or shock value. I just don’t see Sakura adventuring so far outside of Konoha without Naruto (and not just because they are one of my top BrOTPs). As far as I’m concerned, Sakura is super loyal and very team oriented; therefore, she would only go on long solo journeys like that if she did not have a team at all. Even in most canon verses, Sakura is more commonly seen in the hospital or with the Hokage than she is by herself outside of the village. Anyway, there is my little spiel about why I keep killing off Sakura’s teammate prior to the timeline of the creation, in case any of you were wondering.  
> (Also, sorry for being so longwinded)

Despite the quiet brought by the heavy snowfall, Sakura heard the gunshot loud and clear. Her chakra spread out automatically, informing her that there were a handful of people to the northeast of her. Including a kid. And a dying man. Assuming the signature strengths were anything to go by. Even if she rushed, she knew she would not get to him in time—and that did not even account for the fact that she knew nothing of what had happened or even exactly what damage had been done. But the way his life energy levels flickered dangerously diminishing like blood gushing from an arterial wound, told her that she would be useless unless she had been within arm’s reach from the start. She was a miracle worker, not omnipotent after all.

Still, her lips pursed and her heart went out to the fallen.

No life should be so easily taken. All life should be properly mourned.

An opinion that it had taken a war and too many personal loses to learn, but one she would not budge on for a long time to come.

From her position where she had contemplated the rise of the thin white strands that formed a sort of a cage over the island, Sakura had yet to move. She had come to the small island, known as Minion, for the sole purpose of looking into the _Ope Ope no Mi_. She had heard many tales surrounding the powerful Devil Fruit and as a doctor could not help but be curious enough to poke around. She wondered if that was the reason behind the gunshot and all the calamity that had befallen this snow-covered place. Probably.

Sighing softly to herself, she weighed the merits of investigating further anyway.

In the end, she figured that as long as those unnatural threads connected in the sky, she would not be going anywhere and would not lose anything to simple observation. Decided, she turned a trekked around the hillside towards where she’d heard the gunshot and could still feel the signatures of those present. Thanks to the snow boot quality of her favorite pair of knee-highs she had no trouble staying atop the thick layering of snow and due to the heavy snowfall she did not have to worry about leaving even the lightest of imprints in the snow.

With her attention half on the people ahead, she felt the precise moment the gunshot victim stopped flickering, stopped breathing, and something in her chest tightened at the finality of death the abject loss of life—even for someone she had never met, _would_ never meet. Oh, but she could feel the rough edges of the child, wild and fierce, and she hoped like hell that kid had not _seen_ the violence and death take place. As she focused more on the kid than the handful of steady signatures, she realized that the child was moving away from the group and towards her.

Eyes widening at what her senses were telling her, she changed the center of her focus to the little, and no doubt distraught, one headed straight for her and backburnered the rest. Picking up her pace, Sakura did not waste time on getting to what she found to be a small boy not at all dressed for the weather and bawling his eyes out. His cries, though loud and heartwrenching, were hushed by the snow and probably could not echo to the group of people closer to the shore.

At a loss for all the things she assumed had just happened, she hurried to the boy who looked so small and broken. Instinct had her reaching out. Caution thrown to the wind, she caught his shoulders and pulled him in tight. Right then, all that mattered was shielding him from the world, providing him the most protection she could from what he may or may have not witnessed. Right then, Sakura did not care that she did not know this kid or what exactly he had been through or all the ways such rash actions could blow up in her face.

She had been helpless for so many for so long.

She would do what she could for this tiny broken thing.

* * *

 

Caught in a fog of grief and pain and loss, Law did not register the young woman in front of him, not when she hurried to his side, not when she grabbed his shoulders, and not even when she tucked him tight against her chest and plucked him right off the ground.

All he could do was cry. All he felt was numb. All he cared about was _gone_.

Too enveloped with the pain, he did not even try to react as he was carried away, his face pressed against some combination of skin and fur and cloth. Distantly he heard her speak, but he could not make out what she was saying over the pounding in his ears or the screaming in his heart.

Really, what in the world could matter more than the fact that Cora-san—the _only person_ he had ever cared about—had been murdered? Nothing.

Not a damn thing.

And still he continued to mourn.

* * *

 

In the days that followed, Sakura managed to finish up the task she had originally been dispatched for before she had gone to investigate the _Ope Ope no Mi_. The young adult did so with the tiny thirteen year old boy in tow. No matter what she tried, he remained sullen and drowning in his grief; so caught up in it that he scarcely told her more than his name—“Law. Just Law”—and basic facts—how old he was, that he was _dying_ , but mostly that he did not care anymore.

Her heart broke for the kid. She knew firsthand how cruel life could be, how little it cared about age or experience when it chose to be a harrowing unstoppable force. And still she wished she could help him, could undo the apparent injustice done to this young life in a way that no one ever helped her and her former teammates.

She settled for talking him into letting her do a medical check-up in the name of figuring out why he was dying, a request that had been initially been met with wide eyes and endless refusals. As soon as she mentioned that she was a trained doctor and that _she_ intended to do the exam, he settled down enough to be mostly agreeable to the notion. His firm refusals made her only a little curious as to why he was so stanchly against visiting a hospital—kids tended to either of have an inborne avoidance of such places, though she quickly began to doubt that was the case with Law, or they had a past trauma stemming from medical institutions.

With his cooperation, and reluctant willingness to recount the necessary details, the kunoichi managed to get a very clear picture of Law’s situation. And what she found absolutely astounded her, breaking her heart anew for the strife he had endured. When he got to the part about eating the devil fruit, a part that piqued her curiosity enough for her to ask after what he knew of it and what the fruit actually _did_ , she realized that Law had the potential to be quite the doctor. Or scientist at the very least, given his family’s background in medicine.

But rather than push that particular issue, she promised him that she would do what she could to forestall, or possibly even cure, his disease.

The problem, for her, was that she had neither the time nor the resources to even research Amber Lead Poisoning, let alone create a procedure to effectively deal with a type of poisoning she had no prior knowledge of. Those few facts were hardly deterrents; they did however force her to get creative. Like taking Law with her for however long it took to cure him of his affliction. She convinced him to count her, even though he clearly struggled with concept of trust, so she could do daily checks on his health and try to at least halt the progression of the poison—a skill she did have in her wheelhouse thanks to both Tsunade and Shizune, and to Chiyo and Kankuro.

A single run-in with a member of the Donquixote family ended up being all it took to build trust between them. With her shinobi and medical training, Sakura often found herself underestimated. If she thought other shinobi had underestimated her, then how pirates, marines, and mercenaries alike took the cake. Without fail, her opponents took one look at her and assumed she was exactly what she appeared to be—a scrawny, teenage, merchant girl. And without fail, she had little to no trouble discerning and exploiting weaknesses to win her fights. The member of the Donquixote family, a large muscular man with an affinity for the letter G and looking to take Law back, had barely caused her to work up a sweat to render unconscious so she could get Law away from the small bazaar three islands away from Minion Island.  

In the wake of defeating the man Law referred to as Lao G, Sakura found herself on the receiving end of a fair bit of trust and a little bit of awe. Law, apparently, had assumed what everyone else did when they dealt with her—not a competent fighter. She could not honestly say she minded as much when she considered that it laid the foundation for Law actually listening to her and following directives. Oh, there was no way to miss how much he still mourned the man who had died on Minion Island, but she had expected that. Loss was a harrowing thing, impossible to control let alone ignore.

In addition to being more compliant, Law listened and asked her a litany of medical questions when she performed medical checks on him, soaking up any knowledge she imparted like a sponge. She suspected he was sublimating his grief, but she did not want the mistake of assuming she could suddenly tell him what to do and how to deal with his emotions. Not that she refrained from idle comments, which were often ignored, but she knew better than to make commands of the rebellious, young teen. He reminded her a bit of Sasuke when he was that age, and as Sasuke would not be told what to do on any manner, she imagined Law would react much the same.

She had also found that with a more solid trust between the two of them, Law was more open to her, receptive to touch in a way that he had previously cringed from. An act that had saddened her each time she witnessed it, but she strove not to show him pity. For everything he had been through, he deserved hugs and praise rather than pity. It was getting him to accept that was the trick. After all, he was a smart kid, leery of just about everything.

He had gotten this far, she figured, he could make it through anything else life could possibly throw at him.

* * *

 

They had found a motel room that was not on the roach side of sanitary to bed down in, and Law could not help but cautiously poke around the room. Never knew who or what could be lurking. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as she set the giant backpack she always carried beside the small table the room offered as compliment with a matching chair. She seemed mostly relaxed, but then, she always seemed mostly at ease.

Even when Lao G had caught them. Even when she had fought him and _won_.

He was still reeling from that, unable to believe that it was true. Lao G might not have been one of the highest ranking in the Donquixote family but he was just as formidable as all the elite, enough to be considered part of Doflamingo’s ‘family’. And this young woman who could not be that much older than him had seemed to barely break a sweat incapacitating him.

Once he was finished inspecting the closet and half bath, he returned to find her half-settled on the bed, her back against the wall at the head of the bed and one leg dangling off. The window above the bed was open now, and there were a few of her things—books, scrolls and other bits that had interested him from the get-go—spread out on the table. She had a newspaper in hand though, rather than one of those tombs she usual read leisurely.

Unable to shake years of caution and anger, he slowly approached the bed, wanting to get a look at one of those books instead. But they were hers and she had proven to be too strong and too fast for him to get away with it. Once he was seated on the side of the bed, he considered his options.

Only when she cleared her throat did he realize he had been starring at the desk with its supplies laid out. He turned to face her, and she nodded her head at the books, “If you want…”

Yellow eyes blinked. She was offering them to him?

Quicker than she could change her mind he hopped off the bed and darted to the desk. When he picked up the first large volume he could get his hands on he realized that it was a medical book. The title on it having to do with viruses and diseases. Lips parting, he turned his head to look back at her. But rather than watching him, she had returned to the newspaper, looking far too focused to actually be that interested.

His gaze returned to the book and he climbed into the chair. The next title that caught his eye was about poisons, judging by the size—easily the length of his palm—he would bet it was more than just the basics.

She was trying to study the poison that was killing him, he realized.

Diseases, poisons, one of the scrolls had the word antidote on it, another botany—the study of herbs, if he remembered right—and a handful more that he could not see but probably covered different aspects of the same topic.

Again, he turned back to her.

Cora-san had said that the _Ope Ope no Mi_ would grant him the ability to save himself. But in the whirlwind of the last week, he not even thought about trying to figure out how to even activate it. But she was a doctor, and she was trying to help. So maybe she could teach him how to excise his own poison before he really died. Question was, did he want that?

Cora-san had _died_ for him.

Didn’t he deserve revenge? Shouldn’t Doflamingo _pay_ for what he had done?

Could Law make that happen?

Not if he was dead, he knew. But if he survived this horrible poisoning, then maybe, just maybe. And Sakura—she had beat one of them. She knew medicine. She knew how to fight. And she knew how to make enough money to keep them fed, put a roof over their head and acquire transport.

If he was serious about it, he could learn. She would teach him. She’d been trying to subtly teach him, answering his questions and offering suggestions at every turn. Taking a leap of faith, one no scarier than he had when he demanded to join the Donquixto family, he cleared his throat to get her attention. When she looked up, he asked, “Will you teach me to be a doctor?”


	2. Ten Years Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry it took me so long to post the second half of this, I have no excuse other than wanting to update this when I updated 'That's for Last Time'. Since that's taking me so long, I figured I might as well just post this before I drag it out any further.  
> On that note, for anyone who might be wondering, this part takes place during the Saboady Archipelago Arc in One Piece, making it a full ten years (or so) after the setting of the first part. Enjoy!

After over a decade spent between the Grand Line and the Shinobi Nations—more on the Grand Line than not, if she were being honest with herself—Sakura still remembered the sickly boy she had helped cure and then teach medicine to for close to a full year after their first meeting. They had parted ways when he was fourteen and had attained the first members of his crew after his first mate—a talking bear, to Sakura’s amusement—and a sub to serve as his pirate ship. There had been no hard feelings or misunderstandings on either side.

From the moment that had run across Bepo, Sakura had known Law would go his own way, and that his own way included piracy. As someone with a moral compass that did not exactly point north, she had no room to judge even if she wanted to. In fact, the kunoichi had been proud to see him depart—healthy and full of determination. The only worry she would have was him biting off more than he could chew in his quest to avenge his murdered father-figure. But Law had proven capable and cunning during his time with her, picking up medicine the way she had—like he was born for it—and learning the ins and outs of his Devil Fruit in much the same manner. It had taken him almost no time at all to understand the depth of what the _Ope Ope no Mi_ could achieve and even less time to start wielding it with any proficiency.

It filled her with hope that he stood a fighting chance, even after she saw first had what Doflamingo himself could do, what strings he could pull.

So, she was hardly surprised when Law’s first wanted posted appeared a bare two years after their parting, and even less surprised that captured him flipping off someone unseen with triumphant grin that reached his golden eyes. The intervening years saw regular though not frequent raises in his bounty and steady growth in his person. By the time he was rumored to be in Paradise with a full pirate crew, he was well on track to being a Super Rookie.

It never failed to make her smile when she caught sight of one of his wanted posters, and pride every time it was a new one. They were proof that Law was thriving. And after seeing him at his worst, his lowest, she could not help but cheer for the man he was becoming. Even if that man _had_ gained the moniker ‘Surgeon of Death.’ And the tattoos that he seemed to have more of with every bounty poster. But, she figured that was just the mid-twenty-something in her talking, considering what _she_ and Team Seven had been like before she had met Law.

Naruto had tried talking her into returning permanently to Konoha, settling down as the head of the hospital and everything. But she couldn’t bring herself to, even after years of distance from the horrors of the Fourth Secret War. She would always remember the sight of Konoha reduced to a crater in the ground, and that would serve no one if she tried to force herself into the peaceful rebirth of the Shinobi Nations. Naruto had done a world of good for all of them, had ushered in a time of peace, that though arguably still fragile and new, spanned across the giants and little villages alike. Everyone who had ever believed in Naruto before the War knew that if anyone could have changed everything, it would have been him.

So, while she was happy for her hometown and for her team who were still like family to her, there was a void inside her that only grew within Konoha’s towering gates. There was still something out here on the Grand Line for her to find, she just knew it. And thus, she found herself taking all sorts of missions from all sorts of people as she steadily made her way through Paradise and then the New World. The perk of being neither pirate nor marine, meant Sakura could go anywhere she pleased so long as she could find transportation and the weather permitted.

And since the island of the Shinobi Nations rested on the Red Line in the Calm Belt near Reverse Mountain, Sakura often found herself bouncing between both parts of the Grand Line equally when she returned to report in at least once a year. She was always back in time to help celebrate Naruto’s children’s birthdays—she was their traveling godmother after all.

In fact, she only had one mission left on her docket before she was hurrying to finish up so she could make it in time for Boruto’s birthday when she saw Law for the first time in a decade.

Her mission was simple and straightforward—the client wanted her to retrieve someone being sold at the Auction House by any means necessary. And as much as it went against her every moral fiber, she knew the easiest way to accomplish that was to attend the auction and buy that someone rather than storm the place and attempt to tear it all down. Not that she would opposed to it if push came to shove and ‘any means necessary’ meant breaking everyone else out too. But in reality, the Auction House was just the cherry on top of the atrocity that was the Sabaody Archipelago in terms of stomach-turning inhumanity. What she really wanted to do was take the _tenryuubito_ and found herself infinity thankful that none of Team Seven was with her right then, except maybe Kakashi. Pragmatic her boys had never been, no matter what the rule book had demanded of them as shinobi.

Still she found herself surprised when a familiar face sauntered down the aisle steps, jumpsuit clad bear and two crewmates accompanying him.

No longer a sickly little boy, the long-legged and leanly built man in front of her had definitely appeared to have grown into his own. She found herself torn between being able to see him for the first time in a decade and the unease of running across him in a place that auctioned _people_ off to the highest bidder. What was Law doing here? She held off on judgement solely because _she_ was there, too, and for reasons that had nothing to do with dehumanization or enslavement. Perhaps Law was looking for a challenge or crewmate. She could not know, and would not assume the worst in spite of his varying epithets.

Her personal favorite was Dr. Heart Stealer. Even if she was fairly certain that given his Devil Fruit that the intent was literal instead figurative.

She tracked his progress until the small group found a seat a handful of rows down from where she had settled far enough in the back to mostly go unnoticed without being too close to entrances and exits. He seemed at ease as he settled in, tossing an arm over the back of the chair next to him and casually positioning the _nodachi_ he had acquired during his time with her against his shoulder. At six-six, the long sword no longer looked so out of place with him as it had when he was fourteen year old and barely over half her height.

Gone too was the white patches of skin that had named his illness for the world to see, though she was sure that up close faint discoloring still might be discernable.

Sakura smiled at the sight of Bepo beside him, just as comfortable and at ease despite the venue. A decade of friendship, real friendship, she knew could do anyone a world of good and she was happy to see the two of them had stuck with each other after all this time. It also made it less likely that Law was here for the same purpose as the noblemen who had no problem as viewing people as chattel. Minks fetched quite the high price in a place like this, the fact that Law walked one right into the building calm-as-you-please spoke volumes.

Piracy, it seemed, had done their rebellious natures good as well.

A man, clearly dressed to draw attention like a neon sign, waltzed on to the stage with a wide grin. Sakura clenched her fists where they were hidden against her person to keep from leaping out of her seat and doing something in true, knuckleheaded Naruto-fashion and instead refocused on her mission.

And the fact that she _couldn’t_ miss Boruto’s birthday.

She kept the reminder on repeat in her head like a mantra throughout the overdramatic introduction and settled herself in to wait for the specific auction number to be called before she did anything.

*.*.*

Sakura really should not have been surprised that the first time she saw Law in a decade would cause the last mission on her docket to go all kinds of wrong. Man was trouble with a capital T, even back when he’d been a kid. Or maybe it was just her luck in such circumstances. Either way, she found herself amidst the chaos of three famous up-and-coming pirate crews, two injured _tenryuubito_ and far _far_ too many marines. Given that none of that had been her fault, she almost considered demanding compensation for the trouble.

But compensation would imply a completion of her mission and the auction going to hell before she could collect undermined that.

Part of her wished she had nixed the last mission like she had thought about doing—given the sheer distance it took her out of her way for one tiny little thing—but it was far too late for that now. She was here and while she wouldn’t be able to deliver exactly on the request but the person was still here and she could certainly still get him and go. She just had to weather a Vice Admiral on top of all the marines and pirates and mayhem.

In the back of her mind, she should have known that after the last few smooth sailing missions it would be this one that went to hell in a handbasket. And really, when had a Team Seven _not_ gone as wrong as possibly could? She had practice enough to still get the job done despite the circumstances, even if that meant going through Law or bypassing the bulk of a marine bass army to do it.

She just had to find where the Dark King had gotten to, ask him real nice where his giant friend had gone and be on her way. Easy.

“Sakura?”

She glanced in the direction of the sound of her name purely out of habit and couldn’t decide of her luck had worsened or bettered when she saw white fur and a hesitant expression on a very familiar mink. Still, she couldn’t help but throw him a smile, genuinely happy to see him again and know that he had grown in the last decade right alongside someone who would have protected and loved him. “Bepo. Long time no see, eh?”

A slow nod, and then the bear was looking to-and-fro as if suddenly remembering where they were and what was going on. “What are you doing here?”

She shrugged, “An assignment, obviously. What are _you_ doing here?”

He made a soft ‘oh’ sound, like neither concept had occurred to him. “Sorry.”

Sakura huffed, her smile turning fond in the face of his familiar habit but she refrained from commenting. Idiosyncrasies, they all had them. Bepo’s was almost adorable. “Seriously, Bepo, what are the Heart Pirates doing in an establishment with strong ties to the Donquixote Pirates?”

Before he could respond, another achingly familiar voice cut in from across the amphitheater-esque room. “Bepo! Hurry up, we’re going!” Both bear and kunoichi turned toward the Captain of the Heart Pirates, who paused at the sight of Sakura. He blinked once and she waved cheerfully. Worried she might be, but Law was a crafty, cunning man with a heart hidden under all that attitude and cold calculation. At least, he’d been shaping up that way and, epithets aside, no news had contradicted it.

Law tapped Kikoku against his shoulder, his curiosity plain but his intent to get gone in a hurry even clearer.

She glanced at Bepo beside her and shot him a smile too, “Whatever the reason, be safe, okay? And make sure Law doesn’t do anything to reckless.”

Given their parting on good terms and the engrained trust built between them, Sakura was unsurprised when he snapped to like her request had been an order. While distracted by Law starting to shake his head only for his eyes to widen, Sakura was surprised to find herself dragged with when Bepo hurried to his captain’s side. But neither pirate gave her time to shake of the shock before they were out of the building meeting up more jumpsuit wearing pirates that she could only assume belonged to Law.

Even as the thought to plant her feet or protest crossed her mind, she realized the futility of it. Finding Silvers Rayleigh now would take a miracle and her success on this particular assignment equally forfeit with it.

Telling herself it was because tales aboard a real-life infamous pirate crew’s ship would be more valuable the original present she had planned to get with the profit from this last mission, Sakura decided _to hell with it_ and joined the chaos. And if Law, the doctor pirate who clearly grown into his own since the last time she saw him, with his half smile made something loosen inside her that had been tight for far too long, well then what was the harm?


End file.
